Cancer project also a bet on rural broadband’s future

[Commentary] Lack of digital connectivity carries extremely high costs, but few areas reveal the opportunities and challenges of rural digital divides better than health care. Broadband has the power to conquer distance. With telemedicine, we can extend the reach of care, making it possible for treatment, even hours from the nearest hospital. Initial analysis shows that rural “cancer hotspots” also face major gaps in broadband access and adoption. As laid out in the President’s Cancer Panel Report, Improving Cancer-Related Outcomes with Connected Health, collaboration among those in health care, biomedical research and technology fields is essential to the future of cancer care. At the FCC, we believe that both government and the private sector have roles to play in closing the rural connectivity gap. Recently, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Cancer Institute entered into a memorandum of understanding to focus on how broadband connectivity can be leveraged to help relieve the daily, unyielding burden of cancer symptoms and care for rural patients.